Jail for sex attacker who assaulted woman in Huddersfield alleyway

A sexual predator who attacked a woman in an alleyway after she became separated from friends on a night out has been jailed. The woman was walking home alone in Huddersfield after being unable to get into a taxi on 8 August 2021.

Her phone had run out of battery when Adam Bottomley, 26, grabbed her and dragged her into an alleyway, Leeds Crown Court heard.Prosecutor Philip Standfast told the court: "While walking on Wakefield Road she became aware of the defendant who approached her from behind, put his hands around her throat and another around her waist and started running with her.

"He was laughing in her ear and telling her to be quiet. Initially, she thought it was someone joking or her friend but that wasn't the case."He took her to the nearest alleyway and threatened her, telling her they could do it the right way and if she carried on making noises he would rape her."Bottomley, of Henley Croft in Huddersfield, punched the woman and assaulted her. The attack only ended when a passing couple intervened and a man punched Bottomley.

In a victim impact statement, the woman said she suffered with anxiety and paranoia following the attack and did not leave her bedroom for two weeks. Mr Standfast said: "She has found she has struggled with relationships and struggled with intimacy. She tried to block out what happened and she suffers with random panic attacks."Bottomley was found guilty of sexual assault and was also sentenced for causing actual bodily harm, threats to kill and assaulting an emergency worker over an unrelated incident in which he attacked his own mother.He was jailed for six-and-a-half-years, with an extended one-year licence period.

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